This article was printed in the
Spring 2020 issue of Chic Compass Magazine.
Above: The Playel piano, c. 1885, was used in the film about Chopin in 1945 called “A Song to Remember.” The film inspired Liberace’s use of the candelabra.
Liberace’s Second Act
BY STACEY GUALANDI
The late, larger-than-life Liberace once famously said, “You can have either the Resurrection, or you can have Liberace. But you can’t have both.”
Well, it appears Liberace is having a resurrection of his own.
“Mr. Showmanship,” as he was known around the world, would be celebrating his 100th birthday if he were alive today. But the master pianist never let anything like mortality keep him from taking center stage: As of this writing, there are efforts toward naming a Las Vegas street after him; a “Liberace Grill” restaurant is in final stages of completion in Southern California; and a reality television show called Finding Liberace is in development.
But the crowning jewel of the Liberace legacy is his recently revived eponymous museum collection in Las Vegas, the city he called home for years. It is magnificently on display throughout the “Thriller Villa,” a sprawling Hacienda-style estate that was once home to Michael Jackson until his death in 2009.
“The collection was curated by Liberace himself. This is the holy grail,” says Jonathan Warren, Chairman/CEO of the Liberace Foundation. “We’ve expanded it, and it’s a far bigger collection than it’s ever been.”
The museum boasts thousands of iconic pieces—from Liberace’s pristine pianos and captivating candelabras to his showy self-portraits and flashy feathered frocks, curated throughout the former residence of the King of Pop, once a friend of the King of Bling.
Artists Vault – an iconic 1969 Liberace costume by Frank Acuna stands guard.
The reunion of these two former child prodigies is quite a coincidence. As I learned on the two-and-a-half hour tour, they crossed paths several times during their careers; they once roomed together at Trump Tower; and Liberace was a tremendous early influence on Jackson’s stage style (hello sequined glove!)
Warren is masterful at sharing the stories and myths surrounding these legendary artists during daily and evening tours for fans of all ages. “It’s all public history. I’m just regurgitating it,” he jokes.
But his first memory of Liberace goes back to his childhood growing up in Las Vegas. “Every day after school, I’m watching TV and there’s Liberace over and over again in these ads that were hilarious…my brother and I used to make fun of the ads with all these Midwestern ladies running down to the stage to touch [him].”
Now Warren is credited with saving the museum that Liberace once built. In 2013, the original foundation was forced into bankruptcy, and the collection was nearly donated or sold off.
“To lose that nucleus of Las Vegas artifacts that are Las Vegas culture would have been a nightmare to me,” says Warren.
But as a board member at the time, Warren stepped in, and within 5 years, the Glitter Man was back for good.
“All we have to do with Liberace is get out of his way, draw back the curtain, sit down and he’d do it himself,” admits Warren. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
In its new home, the museum collection thrives on original pieces as well as artifacts on loan. Recent donations include one from a family who used to build Liberace’s stages. They donated a valuable piece of history: a concert jacket that once belonged to a former stage manager from Liberace’s final Radio City Music Hall show in 1986.
Says Warren of their ongoing success: “We at this moment have virtually no overhead, no payroll, and no debt. It’s completely stabilized, and now we’re about to go launch into the next stratosphere.”
Susan Liberace of Philadelphia with sculpture of Liberace by artist Marcos Marin of Monte Carlo, at Monte Carlo Fashion Week, 2019. Photo by Jonathan Warren
And that includes a soon-to-be-announced new board of directors (“a Who’s Who of Vegas”); the aforementioned reality TV show to find the next Liberace (in the unlikeliest of places); and the restaurant chain licensing the Liberace name.
But Warren says he won’t rest until the Las Vegas marquees all go dark and a “Liberace Boulevard” is officially proclaimed for the once highest-paid entertainer on the Strip, preferably before Liberace’s 101st birthday in May.
“I know it’s possible, and I hope somebody decides that they’d want to go down in history for having done it rather than going down in history for not.”
In the meantime, there’s no doubt the King of Bling is here to stay, and his influence will continue to make a mark on the city for years to come. Just like he planned.
“Liberace is the reason why Las Vegas looks like Las Vegas,” says Warren. “The reason why it’s known for glitter is because he literally invented it here. His influence is so extensive. I think we’ve been successful at getting that across, at least according to the reviews on TripAdvisor.” :)
The gold leaf Wendl double keyboard piano, c. 1910, was probably made for Austrian royalty, acquired by Liberace in 1952.